Can I camfer my case mouths each time I reload?

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Anything wrong or right if I camfer the case mouths of my 17 Remington Fireball brass each time I reload it?

Any idea approximately how many times I will be able to reload each piece of brass?

Thank you for your input!
 
Not trying to be a smart [beeep], I'm not sure I understand your question?

I only do the outside and inside of the case after I trim to length after resizing to get rid of the sharp straight edge to get help chambering and seating a bullet.

Can you give a little more information?
 
I don't think that you need to but I often run a my de-burring tool into my neck of my .17 Remington (not Fireball) when loading. Seems to me to help to get those itty bitty bullets started down that itty bitty hole a bit easier.

I load my .17 Remmy down to aprox .17 Furball speeds so that my (expensive!) brass will last longer. I think that I get around 10 reloads out of a round of brass and I think that is pretty good. These are not wuss loads as the 20 grain Vmax that I'm shooting is still over 4000 FPS, but the less pressure that you have the less that you will be working your brass next time that you size it.

After over 30 years of loading .17 calibers I have found that a grain or two under max seems to work wonders on brass life.
 
Originally Posted By: Rustydust

After over 30 years of loading .17 calibers I have found that a grain or two under max seems to work wonders on brass life.

Applies to most all of them, not just the .17's
 
Thanks Rusty!

I just resized and deprimed 75 rounds that have been loaded twice and lost three cases to splits in the necks. I run them just short of the maximum load. Surprised I lost three already. I full length size. At $50 a hundred they are expensive little pieces of brass :)
 
Originally Posted By: 17FireballAnything wrong or right if I camfer the case mouths of my 17 Remington Fireball brass each time I reload it?

Any idea approximately how many times I will be able to reload each piece of brass?

Thank you for your input!

Yeah... it is wrong.

The purpose of chamfering is to remove the sharp edge of the case mouth - once it has been removed, there is no need to keep removing it, cuz all you are doing at that point is whittling away the mouth and eventually, you will be loading the shoulders, cuz the neck will be gone.


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Originally Posted By: 17FireballAnything wrong or right if I camfer the case mouths of my 17 Remington Fireball brass each time I reload it?

Any idea approximately how many times I will be able to reload each piece of brass?

Thank you for your input!

Certainly not needed, probably marginally damaging. The only times you need to chamfer are on new brass (and some will dispute that) and when you trim brass. Once you chamfer it stays chamfered until you do something to change that.

The number of reloads you can get per case depends on a number of factors - quality of the brass, chamber specs, resizing technique, how hot you load them. Never done 17s.
 
Originally Posted By: CatShooterOriginally Posted By: 17FireballAnything wrong or right if I camfer the case mouths of my 17 Remington Fireball brass each time I reload it?

Any idea approximately how many times I will be able to reload each piece of brass?

Thank you for your input!

Yeah... it is wrong.

The purpose of chamfering is to remove the sharp edge of the case mouth - once it has been removed, there is no need to keep removing it, cuz all you are doing at that point is whittling away the mouth and eventually, you will be loading the shoulders, cuz the neck will be gone.


.

Well, I certainly don't chamfer as much as you do when I do it! Not by a long shot! I just barely spin the case around the chamfer tool to get rid of any little snags in the brass that might be there. By no means am I "whittling" away the brass.

Go ahead a de-burr those case mouths every time if you want to. I have been doing it on .17 cases since 1979 and have not lost one yet as a cause of it!
 
I think maybe you should anneal and not worry about chamfer ong as much. I also only chamfer to democracy brass after trimming. I do run the tool inside and out of the brass after each sizing to help clean it up.
 
Originally Posted By: CatShooter
Yeah... it is wrong.

The purpose of chamfering is to remove the sharp edge of the case mouth - once it has been removed, there is no need to keep removing it, cuz all you are doing at that point is whittling away the mouth and eventually, you will be loading the shoulders, cuz the neck will be gone.


+1

Your brass life will depend on alot of things! How hot you load them, How many times you take brass off that doesn't need to be taking off.

The more you work your brass the less it will last!

My theory is you should only have to toss the brass because of primer pockets. If your tossing it due to other reasons something is wrong!
 
I always chamfer on some rounds like the .25-06. That round gets trimmed after every shooting. I would think the .17 is another that would benefit.

Ask these guys that don't chamfer often what cartridge they shoot. I'd bet they aren't shooting high intensity cartridges but numbers like a .223 or .308, or they're under loading.

As for cutting back charges I'm against that. I buy a cartridge for a purpose, most being for hi velocity varmint hunting. When I wear the barrel out I'll just have another put on it. Cut back? No thanks.
 
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Originally Posted By: joed

"Ask these guys that don't chamfer often what cartridge they shoot. I'd bet they aren't shooting high intensity cartridges but numbers like a .223 or .308, or they're under loading."



22-50, .220 Swift, 264 Winchester Magnum, .300 Winchester Magnum, 270 Winchester...

... and a few other "whimps"

That was a ignorant post.


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Originally Posted By: CatShooterOriginally Posted By: joed

"Ask these guys that don't chamfer often what cartridge they shoot. I'd bet they aren't shooting high intensity cartridges but numbers like a .223 or .308, or they're under loading."



22-50, .220 Swift, 264 Winchester Magnum, .300 Winchester Magnum, 270 Winchester...

... and a few other "whimps"

That was a ignorant post.

No, that was not an ignorant post. A hotter loaded cartridge will lengthen sooner then a lightly loaded cartridge. There other factors that effect this but for the most part this is true.

And I've had enough of your antics, know it all. You're an idiot.


 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: joedOriginally Posted By: CatShooterOriginally Posted By: joed

"Ask these guys that don't chamfer often what cartridge they shoot. I'd bet they aren't shooting high intensity cartridges but numbers like a .223 or .308, or they're under loading."



22-50, .220 Swift, 264 Winchester Magnum, .300 Winchester Magnum, 270 Winchester...

... and a few other "whimps"

That was a ignorant post.

No, that was not an ignorant post. A hotter loaded cartridge will lengthen sooner then a lightly loaded cartridge. There other factors that effect this but for the most part this is true.

And I've had enough of your antics, know it all. You're an idiot.




How come I don't have the same problems with my cases that you do with your cases...

.. maybe I know something that you don't???

lol.gif


And about having enough of my antics - there is a cool thing here - click on my name and go to my profile, and click "Ignore this user"... and you will NEVER see one of my "antics" again...

... it's made just for you.

.
 
Originally Posted By: joedOriginally Posted By: CatShooterOriginally Posted By: joed

"Ask these guys that don't chamfer often what cartridge they shoot. I'd bet they aren't shooting high intensity cartridges but numbers like a .223 or .308, or they're under loading."



22-50, .220 Swift, 264 Winchester Magnum, .300 Winchester Magnum, 270 Winchester...

... and a few other "whimps"

That was a ignorant post.

No, that was not an ignorant post. A hotter loaded cartridge will lengthen sooner then a lightly loaded cartridge. There other factors that effect this but for the most part this is true.

And I've had enough of your antics, know it all. You're an idiot.





No they won't, but they will loosen up primer pockets sooner. That is if you are "doing it right"! LOL
Plus if you have to trim every loading then you definately have some major headspace issues. Probably only getting 3 maybe four loadings out of a case before head seperation issues.

Let's keep the antics out of it, after all, we are all idiots to someone!
 
my itty bitty 1cent: I agree that over-bore calibers can be a headache when it comes to brass life, the downside of "downloading" them is that you are basically defeating the purpose of these calibers, which are hot-rods... I only chamfer and deburr after trimming my cases, I only neck-size until I am forced to full-size as well. The less you take a way from a 17 cal case the better imho.
 
The "M" die from Lyman is great. I use it, but for most people the standard set up works fine. Chamfer new brass [except lapua] then after every trim. Make the cut light as possible. Otherwise you will encourage neck splits.
 
+1 with smokeless I lightly chamfer any new brass especially my 300 RUM to remove any burrs then same after I trim. I loaded some 300 RUM last summer working up a sheep load and forgot to chamfer. My groups opened a little could have been the loads but afterwards I tried again after a light chamfer and the same loads really tighen up.
 
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